Bicycle Austin forum

The anonymous ticket reads (and it really is in all caps and full of exclamation points, so I'm just quoting): "STOP PARKING IN THE BIKE LANE!  IT'S LAZY, SELFISH AND RUDE!  BICYCLISTS HAVE TO GO OUT INTO TRAFFIC TO GET AROUND YOUR CAR WHEN THIS LANE IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR BIKES!  THERE IS NO TIME WHEN IT'S OK FOR YOU TO PARK HERE."

If you people knew the laws you wouldn't put "tickets" on my car parked very legally in front of my house.  Just because there is a bike lane on my street doesn't mean I can't park there.  A bike lane does not take precedence over a parking spot.

I don't dislike bikers, in fact I bike to work probably 3 times a week.  I also don't have a problem with you disagreeing with someone who parks in a bike lane, but to (1) deface my vehicle by putting a "ticket" on the windshield; (2) misrepresent what the law is by saying on the ticket "There is no time when it's ok for you to park here"; and (3) do all of this anonymously and in the cover of darkness, is just plain cowardly.

Get over yourselves and learn to deal with cars parked (legally) in bike lanes the way the rest of us do.  Use your senses (eyes and ears- that goes for you idiots listening to ipods while you bike) do a quick head turn to gauge oncoming traffic and then merge into the lane for the 0.4 seconds it takes you to pass the parked car.

Further, how is parking on a street "LAZY" or "RUDE"?  Is it any lazier than the biker who can't enter "TRAFFIC" for 0.4 seconds?  Is it any ruder than a biker who anonymously posts a "ticket" that misrepresents the law on my car in the middle of the night?

If you're riding your bike on a street you certainly should have anticipated entering "TRAFFIC" and how many times have I seen a biker (or many) taking up an entire car lane?  You can't have it both ways.  You can't argue you have a right to use the car lanes indiscriminately and then argue that it's unsafe for you to enter "TRAFFIC."  Geez.  Where did you people learn basic logic?